Celebrating 5 Years

{attempting to catch-up before something big happens..like a baby arriving. hopefully, we'll be up to date soon and back to regularly scheduled blogging. Ha!}

This year was a fabulous anniversary year! On our actual anniversary, we swapped gifts {of wood, since we follow the traditional gift list.} and went to eat at a lovely place downtown {read: it pays to hold on to gift certificates until you can actually use them}. 

Then the first weekend of this month, we headed into the city for a combined anni/babymoon getaway. We've been wanting to see the Lion King for.ever. I'd seen it when I was in 8th grade on Broadway with my parents and remember how AMAZING it was. So, we splurged and got great seats a few rows back from the stage. Worth.every.penny. And then some. 

Beyond the performance, we ate great food, napped, and enjoyed the simple pleasure of just being the "two of us" {+ baby in utero, of course}. It was absolutely marvelous and I'm glad we sneaked it in before she comes.  Count down has definitely started!

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve was spent watching White Christmas and eating a yummy dinner of omelets, bacon and toast. My parents joined the festivities and we exchanged gifts as well. Of course, nothing could top the already gifted Utilikilt which was an early Christmas gift, but we certainly tried. ;)

Christmas morning was just the four of us. Ezra came down to all the gifts under the tree and exclaimed, "Oh, BOY!" in the cutest way imaginable. We opened gifts, had breakfast, and played.

The sword and shield were E's favorites and T could not get enough of the tambourine {that cost a whopping $1.50} we got him. That boy has some musical talent in him {which he did NOT inherit from my side}.

Evening was spent at my parents--having a delicious meal. I took a solid 2 hr nap during the afternoon while the boys did the same. Utterly exhausted! This Christmas season has been absolutely wonderful and full. It was truly merry and bright! But I'm sure I'll be paying for it with recovery for weeks...{doesn't help being 7 months pregnant either}.

We have a few more things to look forward to including our 5 year anniversary and a family trip in January. Hoping these will take the edge off of those "boring/restless" winter months post-Christmas time. January always seems to eek by after all that excitement.  Then again with the up-coming arrival, January could just blow by this time. AH! :)

Goin' To The Chapel

Over the past weekend, one of my cousins got married! Since it overlapped a bit with our visitors, only I joined my grandma and parents on the drive up to Sonoma. Within this coming year, all but two of my cousins {both sides included} will be married. Danielle and her long term boyfriend, Forrest, tied the knot at a sweet little chapel with about 80 people attending.

Her dress was gorgeous and she made a beautiful bride!

Wintery reception details...

{the cousins that were present}

My dad and his sister, Gayle. {mother-of-the-bride}

And can't remember the last time we got one of just the three of us.

We ate, drank and were merry before heading back home. I promptly passed out on the way home. Yet another family milestone to celebrate. We wish Forrest and Danielle nothing but the best on their marriage adventure!

A Very Merry Christmas

From us to you!!

Hoping you have a splendid day remember our Savior's birth and savoring time with loved ones!

xoxo,
W & J + three

Tour Guides

We had the delight of having our friends visit from Austin last week! The last time we saw them was when Isaac was only 4 weeks old and I got to carry him {while at the very end of my pregnancy with E} in the moby wrap! Hard to believe that was over three years ago.

 So the three Texans joined us for a full and rainy adventure in the city on one of their days here. We did a quick stop at Union Square to check out the giant gingerbread castle then the rain died down for us to play at Ghirardelli Square.

We walked from there to the Wharf and Pier 39. Some snap-shots of the rest of our adventure include:
silly faces, sword-fighting with umbrellas, ice cream in waffle cones, crepes, a CBS reporter interview, lots of wet wet wet rain, and good times with friends!!

We were so glad W could get the day off work and have a consecutive five whole days at home with us! My man in action: holding two exhausted boys AND taking a picture for a couple of tourists. Serious would be lost without him.

Bump Progression {31 weeks}

Slacker. I know it. I have yet to take one picture of miss Dulcinea's growing bump with my fancy camera. Oh yeah, I haven't even mentioned she has a nickname already. All thanks to my parents' trip to Spain. It means "the sweetest thing" and is the name a sweets bakery there. And of course it's stuck because they were in Spain when we found out and like to suggest girls names to us every once in awhile. 

So, in a last ditch effort to save Mama-face, I've compiled all the phone bump pictures I've taken so far. Here she is...

 Woot woot! 

I'm feeling ever so EXHAUSTED these days. I want to sit on the sofa with my feet up, drink a hot beverage and eat sweets. I don't want to clean, cook, discipline, or anything remotely work-related. Oh well. Not gonna happen.

I definitely feel less motivated to actually birth a baby right now too. And I'm acutely aware that this is a mental sport. :/ Please join me in praying for mental strength and motivation when the time comes. {Cuz I just did all this hard work not all that long ago, yo!} And that I'll magically bypass all the normal, horrible recovery {read: nursing issues} that I face each and every time for the following six weeks.

Other than that, things are pretty normal around here when a baby is just a few months away. Still loads and loads to do while time keeps ticking.

Seriously can.not wait to meet this little girl!! Praying for curls a second time around. ;)

Turning Three {part two}

So, I had these grand plans of hosting Ezra's first "friend/kid" party this year. I had a theme already picked out {polar express}, decoration ideas already pinned, etc. But then October flew by. Then November. And suddenly, each and every weekend of December was full between parties, out-of-town company, a wedding, and Christmas dinners and teas. I was stumped. To be honest, they make me hyperventilate. I so wish I had the talent of party-planning. I know some amazing moms who can do it in their sleep, love it, and the planning seems effortless. It stresses me out. Which may be why I continued putting it off?! Maybe. And I definitely didn't want to do a last minute party or half-way put together one. 

Instead, we took Ezra out on a "birthday date" to see the Train of Lights in a town nearby. Close enough to the Polar Express, right?! Our church rents out the entire train each year for a night so we got  discounted tickets. We left Theo at the gparents because it was a late late night {read: home at 9}. We all bundled up, brought a bag of homemade cookies and a thermo of hot cocoa, put on the glow sticks that W got earlier in the week, and arrived early to pick our seats. 

The train was so beautifully decked out in Christmas lights. It was such a magical sight!!

And we went for a ride and walked through the entire train: looking at all the decorations, hanging out with friends, and getting a candy cane from Santa. 

An instant hit. And for sure, another new family tradition. Ezra was really bummed that Theo didn't join in on the fun. Hopefully, it'll be all five of us next year! 

Three

How He Turned Three

Another rainy day for Ezra's birthday. Think that marks over half his life with a rainy birthday {1st and 3rd}. But that didn't stop us. We made sure to have lots of fun and make lots of memories!

Starting with... Winnie the Pooh at 9am while brother napped. Nothing like "breaking the rules" with a movie before naps. ;) Then we did lunch, some delivery errands, and visited with friends who we haven't seen in weeks! Then it was naps for both before heading to a cafe to meet up with more friends.  I made E wear his crown in order to open his gifts. {I sure hope baby girl embraces her crown for more than just a few birthdays. Yeesh!}

Afterwards, we were off to pick up Papa from work, grab birthday goodies from home, and head up to Gpa and Gma's for birthday dinner and cake. We had our delicious Cioppino {which has traditionally been saved for Christmas Eve}.

Then out came the cake and gifts. Ezra was so sweet and so so very excited! 

The bow and arrows were an instant hit and you could tell he felt so grown-up with them. Just hoping these don't mean an ER visit in our future... you know, that whole "you'll shoot your eye out" Mama thinking. ;)

More Advent

We did a few more activities this past week in Advent celebration style! More family traditions embraced. :)

We started with a family breakfast picnic "under" our tree last weekend. All in footed pjs because it was cold!

Then we popped over to Deacon Dave's a different night to look at the lights on steriods! 

Then we had our sweet McFarland {Swenson} family during the week as they were attending a wedding nearby. It feels like it's been forever since we've had guests so it was a delightful treat to host them. Especially so close after Thanksgiving so Ezra clearly remembered them. We made sure to delay our cookie decorating a few days so we could do it with them. It was so fun having more kids to participate and E loved having his cousins: constant playmates. He went through seriously withdrawals after they left!

And to balance the high levels of sugar before 10:30 am, they all gathered round while Alyson read a Christmas story!

Looking forward to more Advent activities this week!!

Merry Christmas! :)